World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

October 24, 2004 – Vol.9 No.31

WORLD WIND WATCH.

An employment notice for wind turbine installation crews in the U.S.: Get your tools together and machinery revved up. 2005 is going to be a busy year for wind energy.

According to estimates from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) 2500 megawatts of new wind capacity could be installed next year. In dollars and cents that’s more than $2 billion in turbines, towers, site preparation, installation and grid connection costs.

Reasons for the impending boom in wind energy are the reinstatement of the production tax credit for wind energy (which will expire at the end of 2005 unless Congress extends it further) and higher costs for natural gas and coal. Even though wind energy can’t supply power 24/7 it can provide power at peak periods easing demand on other sources of energy.

Some of the projects expected to be built next year have been put on hold waiting for the return of the PTC. The AWEA expects only 480 megawatts to be clocked by the end of 2004 - a down year.

Under the Bush Administration the U.S. Department of Energy would like to see 5 percent of the nation’s power come from the wind by 2020 - up from 1 percent today. Presidential candidate Senator John Kerry would like to 20 percent of the nation’s energy supply to be from renewables. Wind would be the bulk of that since at this time it is the least expensive renewable.